Texas Senate OKs overhaul of protective agencies

Associated Press

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, March 3, 2005

AUSTIN - The Texas Senate approved an overhaul of the state's troubled child and adult protective services agencies, but lawmakers still must determine how much money they will pony up to hire more caseworkers.

Lawmakers and Gov. Rick Perry have made reforms to Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services top issues for the Legislature following recent high-profile cases of child abuse and elder neglect.

The bill debated Wednesday in the Senate would change the investigation processes at both agencies, increase caseworker training and increase cooperation with law enforcement.

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Legislative budget writers, however, still are working out funding details for hiring more caseworkers.

"It's not a discussion of how many caseworkers can we afford," Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said after the debate. "The issue is, what do we need to solve the problem."

The Senate approved the bill Thursday in a unanimous recorded vote. The bill will then move to the House, where a committee has been taking testimony on reforms to both CPS and APS.

Much of the blame for recent child deaths has been placed on the high number of cases that Child Protective Services workers face.

A typical CPS investigator is responsible for 74 cases, or families, per month. The Child Welfare League of America recommends investigators generally be assigned 12 to 15 cases, though Sen. Jane Nelson, who sponsored the bill, said no states meet those guidelines.

Problems with Adult Protective Services came to light after an El Paso judge sent Perry details on cases of elderly people living in homes without water, electricity and gas, and littered with garbage and human waste.

Nelson, R-Lewisville, said her bill strengthens the investigations of child abuse cases, increases collaboration and cooperation with law enforcement, makes malicious false reporting of child abuse a felony and outsources some parts of the foster care system to private entities.

On APS, Nelson said her bill improves the investigations of neglect cases, requires more training for caseworkers and reforms the guardianship services. Under a guardianship, another person is given legal authority to make financial and other decisions for an elderly client.

"What I present to you now is our best attempt at fixing the systematic breakdowns in our protective services," Nelson told the senators. "The reason that we are working to move this legislation so quickly is because there are children and seniors in danger as we speak."

Nelson's bill has an estimated price tag of $119 million, but that does not include hiring more caseworkers.

In a plan endorsed by Perry, the Health and Human Services Commission recommended that 848 CPS investigators be hired to reduce caseloads to 45 per month. Under the HHSC plan, the state would need to find about $250 million.

Nelson said it is her goal to find the money to cut the caseloads for CPS workers at least in half, which would give CPS investigators an average of 37 cases, or families, a month

Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said that if the caseloads are not reduced, the reforms approved by the Senate are not going to be as effective.

"We are still going to have children fall through the cracks," Hinojosa said. "We can do all the reforms we want to, but we've got to pay."